DANA PERINO: I don’t think that you can take one guy throwing his shoe as representative of the people of Iraq. And I will tell you that Prime Minister Maliki and the journalists who were there in the room, who apologized on behalf of the Iraqis, saying this is not how they would treat a guest.

The head of Iraq's journalists' union has asked the government for clemency towards the journalist who is still in custody.

A military spokesman said Mr Zaidi was now being held by the judicial authorities who would decide whether he faces charges.

Earlier, Dargham al-Zaidi told the BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Baghdad he believed his brother had been taken to a US military hospital in the Iraqi capital.

Hero figure

A second day of rallies in support of Mr Zaidi were held across Iraq, calling for his release.

Meanwhile, offers to buy the shoes he threw are being made around the Arab world, reports say.

Mr Zaidi told our correspondent that despite offers from many lawyers his brother has not been given access to a legal representative since being arrested by forces under the command of Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser.

The Iraqi authorities have said the 28-year-old will be prosecuted under Iraqi law, although it is not yet clear what the charges might be.

Iraqi lawyers have speculated that he could face charges of insulting a foreign leader and the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, who was standing next to President Bush during the incident. The offence carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail.

Our correspondent says that the previously little-known journalist from the private Cairo-based al-Baghdadia TV has become a hero to many, not just in Iraq but across the Arab world, for what many saw as a fitting send-off for a deeply unpopular US president.

As he flung the shoes, Mr Zaidi shouted: "This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog."

Dargham al-Zaidi told the BBC that his brother deliberately bought Iraqi-made shoes, which were dark brown with laces. They were bought from a shop on al-Khyam street, a well-known shopping street in central Baghdad.

Abducted by insurgents

The shoes themselves are said to have attracted bids from around the Arab world.

According to unconfirmed newspaper reports, the former coach of the Iraqi national football team, Adnan Hamad, has offered $100,000 (£65,000) for the shoes, while a Saudi citizen has apparently offered $10m (£6.5m).

The daughter of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Aicha, said her charity would honour the reporter with a medal of courage, saying his action was a "victory for human rights".

The charity called on the media to support Mr Zaidi and put pressure on the Iraqi government to free him.

Mr Zaidi, who lives in Baghdad, has worked for al-Baghdadia for three years.

Muzhir al-Khafaji, programming director for the channel, described him as a "proud Arab and an open-minded man".

He said that Mr Zaidi was a graduate of communications from Baghdad University.

"He has no ties with the former regime. His family was arrested under Saddam's regime," he said.

Mr Zaidi has previously been abducted by insurgents and held twice for questioning by US forces in Iraq.

In November 2007 he was kidnapped by a gang on his way to work in central Baghdad and released three days later without a ransom.

He said at the time that the kidnappers had beaten him until he lost consciousness, and used his necktie to blindfold him.

Mr Zaidi never learned the identity of his kidnappers, who questioned him about his work before letting him go.

Steeltoe combat boots covered in blood and dogshlt, made in Commie China. White House press whore Dana Parino got a black eye! "Lips" Bush has obviously gotten Secret Service training on playing dodgeball. As head cheerleader at all-male schools I'm sure he got a lot of balls thrown his way (Victor Victoria Ashe). Too bad Amerikan journos are too busy sucking (up) to do their job. Now all journalists will be required to be shoeless.

NOTE TO SS SECRET SERVICE: LINE #1 IS A SATIRICAL METAPHOR. IN REALITY I'D MAKE A CITIZEN'S ARREST BASED ON PROBABLE CAUSE FOR MILLIONS OF FELONIES.

"But let me talk about the guy throwing the shoe. It is one way to gain attention. It's like going to a political rally and having people yell at you. It's like driving down the street and have people not gesturing with all five fingers."-George DWI Bush, WhiteHouse.gov transcript

"If the people knew what we had done, they would chase us down the street and lynch us.”—President George H. W. Bush Sr Knight of the British Empire, conversation with US Army Intelligence agent and White House press corps agent Sarah McClendon, December 1992

"He deserves to be hit with 100, not just one or two shoes. Who wants him to come here?"-A Baghdad resident

Thousands of Iraqis have demanded the release of a local TV reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush at a Baghdad news conference. Crowds gathered in Baghdad's Sadr City district, calling for "hero" Muntadar al-Zaidi to be freed from custody.

Officials at the Iraqi-owned TV station, al-Baghdadiya, called for the release of their journalist, saying he was exercising freedom of expression.

An Iraqi official was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the journalist was being interrogated to determine whether anybody paid him to throw his shoes at President Bush.

He was also being tested for alcohol and drugs, and his shoes were being held as evidence, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV channel said Mr Zaidi should be freed because he had been exercising freedom of expression - something which the Americans had promised to Iraqis on the ousting of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Any measures against Muntadar will be considered the acts of a dictatorial regime," the firm said in a statement.

The programming director for al-Baghdadiya, Muzhir al-Khafaji, described the journalist as a "proud Arab and an open-minded man".

He said he was afraid for Mr Zaidi's safety, adding that the reporter had been arrested by US officials twice before.

"We fear that our correspondents in Iraq will be arrested. We have 200 correspondents there," he added.

In the U.S. the question being asked is: Why weren't any of the Secret Service close enough to take a shoe for the president? What went wrong with the elaborate system that's supposed to protect the president?

Ex-agent Patrick Lennon said: 'I thought they would have responded after the first shoe. 'Thank God, Bush apparently played a little dodge ball when he was younger.Hero journalist offered $10-MILLION for his shoes Click for Big Picture

A Saudi businessman has offered $10million for one of the shoes, Saudi television has reported. Hasan Mohammad Makhaffa, who owns lands and properties south-west of Saudi Arabia, claims the sum he offered is an auction 'starting price'.

Makhafa, 60, a retired teacher said: 'I consider the shoes the most precious of all my real estate and property, and I will leave them behind as inheritance for my children, to become the shrine, a Medal of Freedom.'

Meanwhile, thousands of Iraqis took to the streets again today to demand the release of the journalist.

Mr Zeidi had yelled 'This is a farewell kiss, you dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq,' as he hurled the footwear during a press conference in Baghdad on Sunday.

Mr Zeidi's TV station, Al Baghdadia, screened repeated pleas for his release, while showing footage of explosions and playing music that denounced the U.S. in Iraq. Al Jazeera TV interviewed Saddam's former chief lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi, who offered to defend Mr Zeidi and called him a hero. In Baghdad's Sadr City, thousands of supporters of radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burned U.S. flags and called for the release of Mr Zeidi.

'Bush, Bush, listen well: Two shoes on your head,' they chanted.

In Najaf, a Shia holy city, some protesters-threw their shoes at a U.S. patrol.

Responses in other countries were ecstatic. 'Al-Zeidi is the man,' said Jordanian Samer Tabalat. 'He did what Arab leaders failed to do.'

In Libya, a charity group headed by leader Muammar Gaddafi's daughter.

Almost 150,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq fighting a conflict that is intensely unpopular in the United States and across the globe.

More than 4,200 American servicemen and women have died and the war has cost U.S. taxpayers $576 billion (£385 billion) since it began five years and nine months ago. ER, 18 YEARS AGO, AND KILLED 75,000 US SOLDIERS, DISABLED 600,000 US SOLDIERS.

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